This invention relates to a self-propelled flail blade lawn mower having disengagable propulsion and cutter drive, both of which are operable from a common drive motor.
Flail blade lawn mowers of known construction generally include a horizontal cutter shaft to which is pivotally attached a plurality of longitudinally and radially spaced apart flail blades. The outer end of each flail blade terminates in a fork which constitutes the cutting edge of the blade. The flail blades are pivotally attached to the cutter shaft so that they are caused to extend outwardly therefrom under the influence of the centrifugal force created by the rotation of the cutter shaft. The pivotal attachment of the flail blades to the cutter shaft also establishes a resilience in the flail blades to obstructions which may be encountered during a mowing operation (for example, ground undulations, stones, etc.).
The present invention provides a self-propelled flail blade lawn mower which exhibits the combination of features, not previously taught by the known prior art, of a seperately engagable drive system from a common drive motor to both the self-propulsion mechanism and the cutter shaft, as well as a braking system for the cutter shaft when the latter is disengaged from the drive motor.